These photographs were taken in the early 1920s due to a project that Lydia’s husband, Emil O. Deere, was involved in with the Lindsborg Historical Society which he helped form on September 25, 1919. Caring for the Smoky Valley Bluffs was the mission of this newly established organization which would be renamed the Smoky Valley Historical Society in 1926 and finally the Smoky Valley Historical Association (SVHA) in 1963.

One of the chief jobs of the Society was to create a road to the top of the Bluffs. This assignment rested with Emil O. Deere, Birger Sandzén, G.N. Malm, William Ahlstrom, C.A. Nelson and R. Johnson, all of whom staked out the road from the valley floor to the summit on May 20, 1920. Deere, Nelson and Malm were also to see that a bridge was built over the draw located on the southwest Bluffs as well as to see that a temporary shelter was built at the top which would be given the name of Fernebo Lodge in 1924.

The Society named the road Swensson Drive in honor of Dr. Rev. Carl Aaron Swensson, the founder of Bethany College. Preceding the road, first there was laid out a footpath from the valley floor to the top of the Bluffs which was named the “Olsson Trail” honoring pioneer Pastor Olof Olsson, the founding father of Lindsborg and the Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1869.

The Smoky Valley Bluffs name eventually changed to Coronado Heights as a result of one summer’s evening in 1919 when Emil O. Deere and William Hagstrom were sitting on an eastern slope of the Bluffs overlooking the Smoky Valley. As they were watching the reflection of the sunset on the fields of ripened wheat, it appeared “gold” in color bringing to Hagstrom’s mind “the gold” that Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado was seeking when he discovered the Bluffs in July of 1541.

When these first Society projects were completed, Emil had Lydia take a series of photographs to document these accomplishments which included a photograph, that I have concluded after much study and thought, capturing the same time of day on a slope of the Heights from which produced a scene similar to the one Deere and Hagstrom experienced of seeing wheat fields of “gold” which eventually led to the name change.

Source: Mrs. Elizabeth Jaderborg: 1965 Lindsborg on Record and 1967 Living in Lindsborg

Lydia surveying the Heights with Emil

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The Photographs

1 & 2: Bridge over the draw was organized by Emil O. Deere, C. A. Nelson and C. N. Malm. 3) Building of a temporary shelter, Fernebo Lodge, at the summit was also the responsibility of Emil O. Deere, C. A. Nelson and C. N. Malm. 4) The renaming of the bluffs occurred on a day like this with the setting sun on the ripenned wheat which appeared "gold" in color bringing to Hagstrom's mind the gold that Spanish explorer Francisco Coronado was seeking when he discovered the Bluffs in July of 1541.

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2011 Coronado Heights Photographs

2006 Photograph taken from Swensson Road

Lydia's sketch for an oil painting of the Bluffs northwest of Lindsborg that Spanish Francisco Coronado and his men discovered in 1541

To learn more about the Smoky Valley Historical Association go HERETo learn more about Coronado Heights, one of Kansas' 8 Wonders of Kansas Geography, go﻿HERE﻿

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